title: Adolescent home-leaving and the transition to adulthood: A psychosocial and behavioural study in the slums of Nairobi.
abstract: Home-leaving is considered an important marker of the transition to adulthood and is usually framed as an individual decision. We move beyond this limited assumption to examine a broader conceptualization that might better illuminate home-leaving among youth in impoverished circumstances. We adopt the Problem Behavior Theory-framework to investigate the association of home-leaving with behavioral and psychosocial variables and with other transitions. We use data on adolescents aged 14-22 years from a three-wave study conducted between 2007 and 2010. We used variable- and person-centered cross-sectional analyses, as well as predictive analysis of home-leaving by subsequent waves. Parental controls protection predicted home-leaving by subsequent waves. Overall, protective factors moderated the association of problem behavior involvement with leaving home in Nairobi's slums.
authors.affiliation: African Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Thaddaeus
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Egondi
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kabiru
authors.forename: Donatien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Beguy
authors.forename: Muindi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kanyiva
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jessor
keywords: leaving home; protective factors; psychosocial factors; risk factors; transition to adulthood